Death, Love, and Music
by unothatimchill
Summary: The title explains it all! don't want to give anything away
1. Chapter 1

Troy Bolton, basketball star, started to walk across the road. It was dark and raining heavily, so he was having a hard time seeing. He kept thinking about the argument he'd had with Gabriella, his girlfriend. They were supposed to practice until ten, but they started getting mad at each other over the tiniest things. They had both been working for hours on the song they were going to sing for their school's musical auditions, they were tired, and they yelled at each other every time they messed up. Troy became fed up with her so he left at around eight-thirty.

As Troy slowly made his way to the other side of the road, deep in thought, something shiny caught his eye. He bent down and picked up a penny. It was untouched by the mud and water that coated the road and was tails-up. _Ha, _he thought, _bad luck… like my day could get any wor-_ He was cut off by the sound of a truck horn and flashing headlights. Troy just stood there, frozen in fear, as the truck barreled toward him. The driver tried to stop, but it was too late. The wheels of the truck passed over his skull and legs. Troy saw a blaze of red and felt his face cave in. The truck skidded to a stop, and he heard the driver yelling. That was the last thing he ever heard.

Ten minutes later, police cars and ambulances arrived. His parents were called. They covered his body with a tarp. Troy Bolton was officially declared dead at 9:01 PM on Friday, January 4, 2007.


	2. Chapter 2

A young girl of sixteen laid flowers on a fresh grave, dug for the boy she had loved. The funeral was three days ago, but she had missed it. She couldn't stand to watch him be thrown under a mound of dirt… if she couldn't see him dead, then he wasn't dead… at least not to her.

She stood up, wiped away her tears on her sleeve and walked out of the cemetery. She walked quickly down the sidewalk, heading for her home where she planned to stay until she was forced out.

"Gabriella! Gabriella, wait!" someone shouted from behind her. She turned around and saw Ryan Evans, twin brother of the school's "ice queen", chasing after her.

"What do _want, _Ryan?" she hissed. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

"You, uh, dropped your scarf when you walked past my house… here," he handed her the brownish-red scarf. Her eyes softened.

"Thanks, Ryan, my mom would've killed me if I had lost it," she hugged him and he blushed a little. He had never had a girlfriend, because his sister stole all the attention away from him, and he really liked Gabriella. He was upset when Troy got Gabriella as well as Ryan's spot in the musical, but after Troy and Ryan started to become friends, Ryan decided that he would try to stop liking Gabby so that it wouldn't get ruin their friendship… but, after the accident… He knew that it was wrong to want her so badly, but he couldn't help it. Her tear-stained face shone in the sunlight, making her look like an angel.

"Gabby, I'm sorry about what happened to Troy. I….I just wanted you to know that…" He gave her one final look and walked away. Gabriella smiled slightly, her first real smile in five days, and slowly walked back to her house.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ryan!" shouted Sharpay Evans, "Ryan, where's my lipstick?"

"How should _I _know?" his voice floated from the room across the hall.

"You might have taken it!"

"Why would I have taken it?"

"I don't know what you do in your free time!"

"Why do you need it, anyway? We planned on eating pizza all night and watching those movies I rented, remember?"

"Well, Zeke got us tickets to see Emeril Lagasse, LIVE, so I'm going with him."

"But… but… you promised!" stuttered Ryan. The doorbell rang.

"That's him! Buh-bye!" She blew him a kiss and opened the door.

"But I already ordered the pizza!" He yelled and chased her to the door. Her only response was a wave of her hand and a door slammed in Ryan's face. Ryan plopped down on his couch. _I'm alone, _he thought, _again… _


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriella couldn't believe that her mom made her get a job. Her mom said that she "needed to get out of the house and have a social life", so when Gabby said that her social life had died along with Troy, her mom forced her to get a job at the local Pizza Hut.

She parked in front of a huge white house with a neatly trimmed lawn.

_Wow, _she thought, _they must be loaded!_ She climbed out of the car and grabbed the pizzas out of the backseat before slowly making her way to the glass door. She had barely pressed the doorbell when the door swung open, and a miserable-looking, blonde boy peered out at her.

"Here are your pizzas! Your total comes to… $20.17," She said, trying to be cheerful, "Wait a second… Ryan?"

"Gabriella? What are _you _doing _here?_" He was shocked by the fact that Gabriella Montez was at his house.

"Uh… delivering a pizza… Is Sharpay here?"

"No… she went to a cooking show… with Zeke… Hey, would you like to… uh… stay here and have a slice of pizza? Maybe we could watch a movie…"

"Well… Your house _is _my last stop… Sure! I'll be back in like… thirty minutes."

"Great! I'll… umm… make some popcorn!"


	5. Chapter 5

Ryan couldn't believe it. Gabriella Montez was in _his _house. He sat down in the seat opposite of her and passed her a glass of Pepsi.

"Thanks," said Gabriella before taking another bite of her pizza.

"Why are you working for Pizza Hut?" he asked, knowing that she definitely didn't need the money.

"My mom wanted me to get out of the house. She said that I'm going to ruin my life by cutting myself off from the rest of the world. That I've become… "overwhelmed" with grief because of… well, you know," she finished with a sigh.

Gabriella suddenly started to cry. Ryan, unsure of what to do, stood up, walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"It's alright, Gabby, everything's gonna be alright," he said, gently, as she buried her head in his shoulder. She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears. They both leaned in and kissed, long and passionately, before Gabriella broke away.

"I- I gotta go, Ryan," she said, quickly, heading for the door, "It's getting late and my mother's expecting me… Thanks… for everything..." She opened the door and ran out, leaving Ryan with his jaw hanging open.

_Did that really happen? _He thought, then smiled, _Yes, Yes it did._


	6. Chapter 6

Sharpay ran through her front door, self-importantly, "See you later, Zeke! Hey, Ryan, guess who's auto-," She stopped abruptly and looked around her unusually quiet house cautiously. Ryan usually runs to greet her as soon as she enters the door. "Ryan? Ryan, where are you?" She spotted him passed out on the couch with a huge grin on his face and pushed it over, dumping him and the cushions onto the floor.

"Ow! Hey, when did you get so strong?" moaned Ryan, pushing himself up into a standing position.

"What were _you _smiling about?" She asked, curious as to what her brother could have possibly been doing in the few hours she was gone.

"Nothing, I just… uh… watched a funny movie," he stumbled over the words, making them up as he went along. He never was very good at lying, especially not to his sister.

"Whatever..." Sharpay could tell her brother was lying, she always could. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight… um… I'll see you tomorrow morning, I guess…" He hoped that she didn't find out about what happened between him and Gabby… She didn't hate Gabriella anymore… but she didn't like her very much, either.

"Yea, whatever," Sharpay mounted the stairs and yawned tiredly. Ryan plopped down on the couch and sighed. If he started dating Gabby, his sister would be so mad at him… he wouldn't be able stand that. If he didn't, he knew that he would regret it. The two people that he cared about the most were making his life so hard! How could he choose between them?

Ryan stood and paced around the room. He needed someone to talk to, to get advice from. He didn't exactly have many friends… mostly just drama club members who he didn't like very much, anyway… and Sharpay… He couldn't talk to his parents. Not only was it too personal, he didn't really have a strong relationship with his parents. They usually only paid attention to Sharpay… of course, there was the occasional, "How was your day?" and "Did you make the musical?", but, besides that, they didn't really say much to him.

_Well, _he thought, _it appears that I have quite a dilemma on my hands._


	7. Chapter 7

Ryan walked down the hall, searching for Gabriella. She had been avoiding him all day. In science class she would look down and pretend to be writing data in her notebook, and she left the lunchroom when she saw him approaching her at lunch. The final bell had just rung, and he intended to beat her to her locker.

He finally found her locker and leaned up against it. He noticed her turning a corner and heading his way. She hesitated when she saw him but dropped her head so that she wouldn't have to stare into his eyes and slowly approached her locker.

"Um, hi, Gabriella," said Ryan, cautiously. He was afraid to speak too loud or too fast, she looked ready to bolt at any given moment.

"Hi, Ryan," she said, hoarsely. She didn't even glance up.

"Uh… Gabby, were you… avoiding me?" He asked, hoping that her answer would be "no", hoping that he was just being paranoid.

Gabby didn't respond, she just continued fiddling with her lock.

"Gabriella, did you hear me? I said-"

"Ryan! Can't you take a hint? LEAVE ME ALONE," she almost shouted. Her sudden outburst took Ryan by surprise. It was very out-of-character. Gabriella was usually sweet and soft-spoken.

"I'm sorry, Gabby, it's just that… after what happened-"

"NOTHING happened, Ryan! It was just a… a mistake. An accident. Okay, got it?" She lowered her voice, "Please, just… just go."

Ryan's shoulders dropped, he hung his head, and slowly walked away, hurt.

Sharpay had heard every word. She was walking past Gabriella's locker when she heard her brother's voice and decided to find out what he was doing there. His locker was on the other side of the school.

"Hmph!" she snorted and turned around, bumping into Taylor McKessie. She had obviously been listening, too.

Sharpay had never liked Taylor, but she figured that now would be a pretty good time to find an alliance. "Taylor, something is very wrong, and we need to fix it!"


	8. Chapter 8

Kelsi Nielson faked a smile as her boyfriend, Jason, wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She was tired of pretending to like him. Well, he was nice and a good friend… but… that was all she thought of him as, a good friend. She just couldn't bring herself to break up with him. She was afraid of hurting him and damaging their friendship.

She sighed and said, "Hey Jason." Jason smiled at her. She was about to tell him that her mother wanted her home right after school today so she couldn't hang out with him, but then she saw Ryan Evans rush out the door, and her face lit up… until she saw the pain etched into his face. She glanced quickly at Jason. He hadn't noticed her expression when Ryan ran by.

"Jason, I gotta get home. My mom told me that I had to baby sit Marc today and I'm going to be late if I don't leave right now," She said, feeling guilty about lying to him. She wasn't _completely _lying, she did have to baby sit her six-year-old brother, Marc, but her mom didn't go to work for another hour, she could have spent a little time with Jason.

Kelsi thought about Ryan. She had liked him since kindergarten. He was just so much nicer than his sister, Sharpay. She remembered a time in fourth grade when she had dropped her pencil case, and the cheap plastic broke, spilling the contents all over the floor. Sharpay and her friends had all walked out of the classroom, laughing, as Kelsi scrambled to pick up all of her pencils, pens, and markers. Ryan stayed after class and helped her find everything she had dropped. He even let her borrow his extra pencil case.

She grabbed her backpack and started toward the door when she saw Sharpay and Taylor whispering to each other. Sharpay and Taylor hated each other, why were they talking? She thought about the pain she had seen on Ryan's face. Something was definitely going on, and she _had_ to find out what it was!


	9. Chapter 9

"Pull up your pants, Ms. Evans, your bloomers are hanging out!" barked Ms. Darbus. "The one thing I hate more than cell phones is when any young lady's…. or young man's," she glanced at Chad Danforth, "drawers are sticking out of their pants!"

Sharpay's face turned red for a second before she quickly replaced the embarrassed look for a stubborn one. She rolled her eyes and pulled up her jeans.

"Belts aren't that expensive!" continued Darbus. "And if you're in such a financial state that you cannot afford a belt, I will BUY ONE FOR YOU! Just please… _please _keep your underpants UNDER YOUR PANTS!" she begged her students. "From now on, if I can see your undergarments, I am going to tie your pants on with rope!"

The bell rang as if on cue. _Thank God that's over, _Thought Sharpay.

"That was officially the worst Darbus lecture yet," said Taylor.

"No kidding," agreed Zeke.

"How dare she tell _me _how to wear _my _jeans!" said Sharpay angrily.

"I don't wanna wear a belt…." muttered Chad. "I hate belts…"

"Why don't you just wear pants that don't go down to your knees?" asked Taylor.

"Ugh! You mean geek jeans! Yeah right!" exclaimed Chad.

"Hey!" said Zeke defensively.

"But they look great on you," said Chad quickly.

"Hey, Ry, why are you so quiet?" asked Jason, changing the subject. "You've hardly said a word all day!"

"What? Oh, I… I just have a lot on my mind today, that's all," said Ryan distractedly. He was having a hard time getting yesterday's events off his mind.

Meanwhile…. 

Kelsi slowly walked to her math class, reliving the day before.

Kelsi jogged through the school parking lot, heading for the bike rack. _I wish I could afford a car, _she thought as Sharpay drove away in her new pink convertible.

Kelsi stopped abruptly. What was that noise she had just heard? It sounded like… like sobbing. And it was coming from behind a small, red car.

She walked toward the sound and saw Ryan, tears streaming down his face. Kelsi remembered him rushing out of the school with a look on his face that broke her heart.

"Ryan, are you alright?" asked Kelsi nervously. Ryan looked up in surprise.

"Kelsi!" shouted Ryan, "What are you doing here!"

"I… I heard you crying," said Kelsi, staring at Ryan's tear streaked face.

Kelsi was knocked back to reality by large, solid object. "Oof!" shouted Kelsi as she fell and dropped her books. She looked up and saw that she had walked into the door of her math class.

Sharpay and her friends walked past her and into the classroom, laughing. Kelsi sighed. _I guess some people never change, _she thought, sadly. Ryan bent down and helped Kelsi pick up her books. Their eyes locked for a moment and Kelsi smiled. _And maybe that's not such a bad thing._


End file.
